Australia

We continued our study of Australia this week with a focus on the different biomes found in this fascinating country/continent.  Within this one land mass there are 5 different biomes represented; desert, grassland, temperate forest, tropical forest, and wetlands!  On Wednesday we discussed the desert biome in detail and began to create diagrams of the terrain and the animals that can be found in the Australian Outback.

Reading

This week we finished the first unit of a specialized “test-prep” curriculum that is intended to teach students proper test taking skills.  During this unit students learned a how to identify the narrator, predict possible test questions, read between the lines, and to outsmart tricky test questions.  Fourth Grade will be revisiting this curriculum later in the year for units 2 and 3, all in hopes that our students will be prepared for the tests later in life!

 

Self-Assessment

Writing Workshop this week was spent self-assessing throughout subject areas.  We began with a general student self assessment where students were asked to write about their feelings about school in general.  Next, students did some writing about themselves as writers.  They had to think deeply about their strengths and weaknesses and their likes and dislikes.  There is a lot more work to be done, but we look forward to sharing these self-assessments with parents at the end of the trimester!

Important Dates:

Saturday, February 6th                     Charleston STEM Festival 10:00am-3:00pm

Friday, February 12th                        Valentine’s Day Concert and Bake Sale

February 15th & 16th                          February Break